Agenda item

To receive the annual report of the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Authority

At the invitation of the Chairman, Ben Ansell, Chief Fire Officer, presented the annual report of the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire Authority. The slides presented are appended to the minutes.

In the course of the presentation, the Chief Fire Officer highlighted: how governance is organised across the authority area, and the ability of locality committees to scrutinise performance; the priorities within the community safety plan; the focus on protection, prevention and response; the activities undertaken to reduce fire risk; that there were no fire deaths in the Wiltshire area in the last year; the changes made since the merger; the investment in staff and facilities, and the activities around staff recruitment and retention with a focus on a developing diverse workforce; the relatively low funding from central government and the comparison of the precept with other combined authorities; the continuing financial challenges ahead and the activities undertaken to increase efficiencies including the sharing of resources with partners such as the police and the council; the changes to the national inspection regime; and the preparations in response to national emergency risks, and the specific activities in response to Grenfell.

In response to questions from Councillors, officers of the Authority stated that: the results of a funding review were awaited, but that it was clear that the area did suffer from lower funding due, in part, to its rural demographic profile; that response times in rural areas are slower than those in urban areas, but that preventions work can be targeted at vulnerable rural residents to mitigate against the risk of negative effects; that the Authority was part of national efforts to address recruitment and retention issues; that the number of staff and appliance in each areas was under review. 

The Chief Fire Officer stated that some questions in relation to how the changes to governance arrangement, in particular: whether targets on response times in Wiltshire and rural areas could be more accessible within the annual report; and the proposals by Government for great working with Police Commissioners and the possible impact of the reduction in the number of Councillors on the Authority, would more appropriately be dealt with by the Chairman of the Authority rather than by officers but that he would be happy to refer these on. Having said that, he did confirm that the authority was meeting with the Wiltshire and Dorset Police Commissioners to continue to explore opportunities for joint working.

In the following discussion, Councillors comments included: commendation for the officers on their work during a successful merger of two authorities; the work of Councillors with different governance roles in the authority; the support given by fire officers to areas of the Council’s work such as improving the lives of vulnerable adults; and examples of the good engagement of fire officers with the wider public.

Having been duly proposed and seconded, and upon being put to the vote, it was,

Resolved

1.     To note the report;

2.     To thank the Chief Fire Officer for his presentation;

3.     To write to the Chairman of the fire authority setting out issues raised by the council, and to extend an open invitation for him to attend the council at a future date.